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  1. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    His and Rod Steiger’s performances in In the Heat of the Night were electric.

    (He and Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones weren’t bad either.)

    • #1
  2. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    A wonderful man.  RIP.

    • #2
  3. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    I remember him most for the wonderful western comedy, Buck and the Preacher, with (of all, people Harry Belafonte). It was so out of character for both.

    • #3
  4. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    I remember him most for the wonderful western comedy, Buck and the Preacher, with (of all people Harry Belafonte). It was so out of character for both.

    Poitier also did a pretty good job with James Garner in Duel at Diablo.

    • #4
  5. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Great actor. I don’t know anything about his personal life, but i don’t recall hearing any negatives as would with most in Hollywood. Lived to a nice age. Eternal Rest In Peace. 

    • #5
  6. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    From about 1957 through 1972, Poitier practically was Black America as far as Hollywood was concerned. He was a role model in the rapidly fading age of role models.  Sammy Davis Jr. was roughly the same age and had a parallel pioneering career, but Davis was funny and sharp about race; Poitier aimed at solemn and preacher-y. By the early Seventies, in a radicalized culture like today’s, ironically, both men were considered Uncle Toms. Neither of them took part in the Blaxploitation era.

    Peter Bogdanovich also just died. He was twelve years younger than Poitier, with a shorter career, but one thing they had in common: Both of them were “big” in their early work, but didn’t do much of interest in the past 40 years.

    • #6
  7. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    He was a role model in the rapidly fading age of role models. Sammy Davis Jr. was roughly the same age and had a parallel pioneering career, but Davis was funny and sharp about race; Poitier aimed at solemn and preacher-y. By the early Seventies, in a radicalized culture like today’s, ironically, both men were considered Uncle Toms.

    I feel more and more like Thomas Sowell who blames everything on the radicalism of the 1960s. It’s not super common for black-Americans to feel nostalgic for the 1950s for entirely understandable reasons. But something is very wrong if Sidney Poitier and Joe Louis were considered Uncle Toms. 

    • #7
  8. Ekosj Member
    Ekosj
    @Ekosj

    “They call me Mister Tibbs!”

    One of my favorite lines in film.

    And To Sir With Love is one of my favorite films.  That and the little – noted The Bedford Incident 

    And some day,  when I grow up, I want to wear a tuxedo like Sidney Poitier.   From a style article about how to properly wear black tie…

     

    Mr Sidney Poitier and Ms Abbey Lincoln in For Love Of Ivy, 1968. Photograph by Photofest

    This shot is taken from Mr Sidney Poitier’s 1968 movie For Love Of Ivy; we’re not sure if that’s referencing his regard for the Ivy League look, but in the majority of his high-watermark 1960s roles, from In The Heat Of The Night’s Virgil Tibbs to Mark Thackeray in To Sir, With Love, he favoured a clean, sharp-suited preppy style that only enhanced his charisma, and his black-tie look was similarly on-point; if your dress shirt is this spruce, with its flawless bib-front and urbane studs, and your tie is this exquisitely proportioned, you can get away with the at-all-other-times cardinal sin of removing your dinner jacket. Mr Poitier’s costar, Ms Abbey Lincoln, is suitably dazzled.

     

    • #8
  9. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    From about 1957 through 1972, Poitier practically was Black America as far as Hollywood was concerned. He was a role model in the rapidly fading age of role models. Sammy Davis Jr. was roughly the same age and had a parallel pioneering career, but Davis was funny and sharp about race; Poitier aimed at solemn and preacher-y. By the early Seventies, in a radicalized culture like today’s, ironically, both men were considered Uncle Toms. Neither of them took part in the Blaxploitation era.

    Peter Bogdanovich also just died. He was twelve years younger than Poitier, with a shorter career, but one thing they had in common: Both of them were “big” in their early work, but didn’t do much of interest in the past 40 years.

    I hate to quibble with someone so knowledgeable about the movie biz, but I gotta stick up a bit for Bogdanovich.  It’s true his filmmaking was largely MIA after early successes, which I assume is what you meant, but he did not disappear and did continue on as a very knowledgeable historian and critic (if those are the right terms).  There’s some stuff featuring him on YouTube that’s worth watching.

    • #9
  10. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    Singer Abbey Lincoln was excellent in that film! The first night of the projectionist phase of my worklife, in April 1974, I was at the Melba, a second-run theater in the Bronx. The theater owner was an elderly man with a thick Yiddish accent who recorded the outgoing phone message each week. In his slow, labored voice he intoned, “Starting Wednesday. The year’s most unexpected love story. “For Love of Ivy”. Starring Sidney Poitier…and Abe Lincoln.”

    • #10
  11. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    It’s pretty much forgotten, but Shoot To Kill  (with Kirstie Alley!) is a really entertaining action film.

    Poitier also directed several films, including a “trilogy” with Cosby starting with Uptown Saturday Night.

     

    • #11
  12. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    From about 1957 through 1972, Poitier practically was Black America as far as Hollywood was concerned. He was a role model in the rapidly fading age of role models. Sammy Davis Jr. was roughly the same age and had a parallel pioneering career, but Davis was funny and sharp about race; Poitier aimed at solemn and preacher-y. By the early Seventies, in a radicalized culture like today’s, ironically, both men were considered Uncle Toms. Neither of them took part in the Blaxploitation era.

    I find the Uncle Tom beliefs rather tedious. I look at acting ability, and I have a low bar, or perhaps it is a high bar, in that spending part of afternoon, enjoying a few beers with someone like Sydney Poitier would be an afternoon well spent.

     

    • #12
  13. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    From about 1957 through 1972, Poitier practically was Black America as far as Hollywood was concerned. He was a role model in the rapidly fading age of role models. Sammy Davis Jr. was roughly the same age and had a parallel pioneering career, but Davis was funny and sharp about race; Poitier aimed at solemn and preacher-y. By the early Seventies, in a radicalized culture like today’s, ironically, both men were considered Uncle Toms. Neither of them took part in the Blaxploitation era.

    Peter Bogdanovich also just died. He was twelve years younger than Poitier, with a shorter career, but one thing they had in common: Both of them were “big” in their early work, but didn’t do much of interest in the past 40 years.

    I hate to quibble with someone so knowledgeable about the movie biz, but I gotta stick up a bit for Bogdanovich. It’s true his filmmaking was largely MIA after early successes, which I assume is what you meant, but he did not disappear and did continue on as a very knowledgeable historian and critic (if those are the right terms). There’s some stuff featuring him on YouTube that’s worth watching.

    I’ll take Hoyacon’s medicine with a smile! You’re right, I was referring to Bogdanovich’s career as a mainstream, big time film director. He did other valuable things in film writing, and he was instrumental (along with Leonard Maltin, Alexander Walker, and Todd McCarthy) in getting people from the late Sixties onwards to promote movie history while many of the oldest practitioners were still alive. In retrospect, I’d re-phrase “didn’t do much of interest”.  

    Though I stick to the idea that, considering how strong his moviemaking career started, it tapered off surprisingly early. 

    Similarly with Poitier, I’m not denying he had some great moments on screen later on. He kept working, and as was pointed out, became a pretty good director. All I meant to say was after the mid-Seventies or thereabouts–say, 45 or so years ago–he was a famous figure, but in his heyday he was routinely expected to be, in effect, Will Smith, Denzel, and Sam Jackson put together. 

    • #13
  14. tigerlily Member
    tigerlily
    @tigerlily

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    His and Rod Steiger’s performances in In the Heat of the Night were electric.

    (He and Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones weren’t bad either.)

    Let me post a clip from that movie – the famous return slap. It’s about 2 minutes long.

    • #14
  15. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    One of the most memorable lines:

    “They call me [beat] … :  ‘Mr. Tibbs'”

    One of all time greatest lines in all moviedom.

    • #15
  16. ToryWarWriter Coolidge
    ToryWarWriter
    @ToryWarWriter

    They call me….  Mr Tibbs.

    • #16
  17. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Ekosj (View Comment):
    That and the little – noted The Bedford Incident 

    “Fire!”

    • #17
  18. Roberto, [This space available for advertising] Inactive
    Roberto, [This space available for advertising]
    @Roberto

     

    Father’s will really put up with anything for their kids.

     

    • #18
  19. Roberto, [This space available for advertising] Inactive
    Roberto, [This space available for advertising]
    @Roberto

    Worth noting.

     

    • #19
  20. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Ekosj (View Comment):
    And To Sir With Love is one of my favorite films.  That and the little – noted The Bedford Incident

    My two favorites . . .

    • #20
  21. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    His and Rod Steiger’s performances in In the Heat of the Night were electric.

    (He and Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones weren’t bad either.)

    The Defiant Ones is, I think, terribly underrated. 

    • #21
  22. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    Fritz (View Comment):

    One of the most memorable lines:

    “They call me [beat] … : ‘Mr. Tibbs’”

    One of all time greatest lines in all moviedom.

    “I got the motive which is money and the body which is dead!”

    Not a bad line either…

    • #22
  23. ToryWarWriter Coolidge
    ToryWarWriter
    @ToryWarWriter

    BDB (View Comment):

    Ekosj (View Comment):
    That and the little – noted The Bedford Incident

    “Fire!”

    Watching that tonight.

    • #23
  24. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    ToryWarWriter (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    Ekosj (View Comment):
    That and the little – noted The Bedford Incident

    “Fire!”

    Watching that tonight.

    It’s awful.  It’s a one-line movie.  

    • #24
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